2010 Olympic organizer promises free homestay program.

Following the story about the Hamill family who are offering a guest suite to the family of an Olympic athlete, I was inundated by emails from readers who said they want to do the same thing. (See the bottom of the post for some samples.)Most wondered whether the Vancouver Organizing Committee is going to take the lead in coordinating a homestay program, and a few suggested that The Vancouver Sun might want to set up a free website where families could post and respond to offers of free accommodation.David Eby, the Pivot Legal lawyer who writes a fairly caustic anti-Olympics blog called “The Official Vancouver 2010 Olympic Newswire”, also mused about this in referring to my story. Thanks, David.I received a couple of notes from web designers saying they wanted to set up sites, and wondering about sponsorship or payment. And lastly, I received an unpublished blog response from a company that runs a for-profit Olympic rental site saying they intended to soon offer a place for free offers as well.I wondered where Vanoc was in all this – and today I received an answer. Here’s the verbatim response:“Following on similar successful models developed by previous Organizing Committees, Vanoc is currently developing a homestay program with the goal of launching in the fall. We look forward to sharing more information with the public in the coming months.”In the past Olympic organizers have undertaken homestay programs for athletes. Samsung, the Korean electronics giant that is one of the IOC’s TOP (The Olympic Program) sponsors, has sponsored it in the past.I don’t know whether Samsung is in for the same deal this time around, but I know Vanoc is in preliminary discussions with a sponsor or sponsorsI also know Vanoc is absolutely gun-shy of having people think it will do a homestay program for spectators, since it is deferring on that to Tourism Vancouver, Tourism British Columbia and Tourism Whistler. So the field is still wide open for people who want to rent out their homes, condos, campgrounds, trailers, closets and steamer trunks to 2010 visitors.Vanoc also isn’t saying much about how it will accommodate the estimated 25,000 volunteers it will need, although it insists that all applicants indicate whether they can stay with family or friends. In the Sea to Sky corridor, for example, Vanoc has said it is giving preference to volunteers who have guaranteed accommodation.But I’ll bet my bottom dollar that Vanoc will also have some kind of homestay program for its volunteer workforce; it just has made no other allowance for accommodating people who are willing to donate their time to the Olympic cause.Vanoc says it wants to hear from anyone willing to open up their home for free to athletes and/or their families. They may not be ready until the fall to announce the homestay program, but they’ll need all the help they can get. You can email your information directly to them at info@vancouver2010.comEmail me as well. We may yet take part in some means of publicizing family offers.

Later this year, VANOC is expected to start marketing its Homestay Program, which is for the families of athletes as well as for the workforce for the Olympic and Paralympic Game, but not for spectators. While that may sound a bit insular, the concept is to considerably reduce the pressure caused by the arrival of the families on local low-cost housing. The marketing strategy isn’t finished yet, but it is expected to involve presentations to potential hosts, sponsors, community and corporate groups and volunteers. The solicitation package for the Homestay program is expected to discuss inspections, and gather information about each participant and the home, to help manage the settlement process, which includes scheduling arrivals and departures, necessary ground transportation, working out various gift and complimentary-ticket distribution, emergency communication and medical procedures. We’ve heard that the Roundhouse, which is only a few steps from the David Lam Park Live Site, is being considered as a place for athlete’s families to rendezvous while the Games are underway, although that doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be a focus in Yaletown for athletes families. We understand that Richmond is likely to set up a formal home stay program with Kwantlen College in the same context as VANOC’s arrangements.